THE TOLMAN COLLECTION OF NEW YORK

Many great minds have been captivated by the concept of a single unifying principle that governs the all that is our universe, a principle in which all things are connected by a universal truth. While we often associate this inquiry with the sciences and philosophy, it is also an important influence in the arts. I have long been intrigued and inspired by the concept of a unifying principle and have been creating artworks in which the concept is interpreted through shape, color, and spatial relationships. I create works in which elements function like organic building blocks: atoms form a molecule, molecules form a compound, compounds form a cell, cells form an organism, and so on. The marks, lines, shapes, colors, and textures that are the basic language of my work form a kind of network structure—a system of interconnected nodes that seem energized by their interaction within the network. In the interdependence, synergy, and the flow of meaning and significance within these networks, there is subtle and profound beauty.

 

I have been fascinated by similarities found in the patterns and shapes of the natural world, patterns repeated all around us in structures microscopic to galactic. Many organic structures seem to be formed of self-similar fractal patterns, in which patterns develop and recur at successively larger (or smaller, depending upon perspective) scales. Once organized, a fractal pattern can be recreated at any scale in any number of progressive iterations. I have discovered a connection between fractal patterns and the central theme of my artwork as described in the preceding paragraph. In Fractal, I explore this relationship through the use of representative fractal elements inspired by self-similar pattern replication found in the structures of many plants